Chapter 1

DEVIKA

The moment a hand grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me off my feet, I knew I had walked straight into danger. 

I had been heading down the hallway toward the ball party, smoothing my cuffs and silently reminding myself to keep my posture sharp and voice low, when someone dragged me backward into an empty classroom. 

The door slammed shut behind me with a heavy thud, followed by the unmistakable click of the lock turning. Before I could process what was happening, I was slammed hard against the wall, and a hand wrapped tightly around my neck.

The force knocked the breath out of me, and my fingers instinctively flew up to claw at his hand, struggling to free myself. But he only gripped tighter, pinning me in place with a strength I couldn’t match, and when I finally looked up, my heart dropped.

Vance.

The arrogant, vicious son of Alpha Jaxson, ruler of AlphaForge Academy—the best and cruelest Alpha school in all of Vukaria. 

The one person I despised more than anyone in this entire academy. His golden eyes glinted in the dim light, glowing faintly with that dangerous spark only true Alphas had when their wolves were close to the surface. 

His presence was suffocating, his strength overwhelming, and he leaned in just enough for me to feel the heat of his breath brush against my skin.

"You’ve got some guts, huh?" he muttered in a low, dangerous tone, his voice steady but full of venom. 

"You actually hit me yesterday during sparring. You really think you can get away with that?" I tried to respond, my throat burning and lungs screaming for air, and somehow managed to force the words past my lips. 

"Let go of me."

But he didn’t move.

"No one dares touch me. Ever," he snarled, his voice dropping even lower as his grip on my neck tightened. "You think you’re clever? You think you belong here?”

I couldn’t stand the way he looked at me—like I was something beneath him—but I refused to look away. My vision blurred slightly from the pressure, but I kept my jaw tight, fingers still pulling at his arm, trying not to tremble.

I didn’t crawl through war and grief just to be broken by some golden-eyed bastard. "It was training," I hissed, my voice raw and strained. 

"I don’t know why the hell you're taking it so personal. Maybe if you stopped being a stuck-up bastard for five seconds, you'd get that." Vance let out a quiet laugh that made my skin crawl, and then, slowly, he leaned even closer.

So close I could feel his lips near my ear, his breath warm and tainted with the kind of rage that simmered just beneath the surface. "I don’t like being touched by weaklings," he whispered. 

"Especially not ones who think they can hide from me." A chill rushed down my spine, and I felt something deep inside me react—something primal and wild. His scent was too strong, too sharp, and far too close. 

My wolf stirred within me, unsettled and restless, and I could feel her pushing forward. No. This wasn’t happening. Not now. Not here. Not with him.

Before I could steady myself or push him away, he grabbed me by the collar and yanked me forward again, slamming me down onto the hard floor with enough force to send pain shooting through my side. 

My face hit the ground, and I let out a sharp cry as my jaw smacked against the concrete. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. I brought a trembling hand to my lips and when I looked down, red stained my fingers.

"You still got the balls to talk back at me?" he muttered darkly, crouching beside me with a look of twisted satisfaction. "Filth like you should’ve known better. I’ll make your stay in this academy hell, you hear me?"

He stared at me with cold amusement, and I hated how calm he looked, like this was just another game he was winning. "You thought you were smart stepping in the other day," he continued, voice low and mocking. 

"Interrupting me when I was teaching Cole a lesson? You’ll pay for that too." Cole was my friend and had been in trouble. I saw them cornering him, and I couldn’t look away. Now I was paying for it. 

"There’s something strange about you, and I’m going to figure out what it is." He straightened suddenly, eyes flicking toward the door as the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall.

"Vance!" someone shouted—Professor Grayson’s voice, growing closer. 

Vance’s jaw tightened, and he looked back at me with a sneer. "Don’t make a sound. Don’t even breathe too loud," he warned, his voice flat and cold. "I’ll be right back, and if you’re gone when I return, I swear—"

He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to.

He slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a soft click that sounded like a death sentence.

I didn’t move. Not at first. My body was still trembling as I sat there on the cold floor, trying to keep my breaths shallow and silent. My lips stung, my chest ached, and my hands were shaking as I wiped the blood from my mouth.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and I let them fall without shame.

This wasn’t what I imagined.

Not at all. I knew pretending to be a boy in an all-male Alpha academy would be hard. But I didn’t think it would feel like this—like I couldn’t even breathe without risking everything.

I had survived war. I had seen my brother die fighting to save our pack. I had hidden for years, trained in silence, carried the weight of a dead name. But nothing had prepared me for the twisted games of AlphaForge Academy.

And now I was bleeding, shaking, and hiding in an empty classroom—one mistake away from being exposed and killed.

I couldn’t stay here.

But I couldn’t leave either.

Not until I got what I came for.

Not until Alpha Jaxson and his bastard son paid for what they did.

I wiped the blood from my lips with the edge of my shirt, but the moment the fabric brushed against my nose, Vance’s scent hit me again—deep, heady, raw. It clung to me like smoke after fire. 

My whole body froze, then a sudden wave of heat slammed into my gut so hard I gasped.

No. Not now.

It was back.

I had fought it for years with herbs. Ever since I turned eighteen, I’d done everything to keep it buried. Heat was for unmated females, for wolves still untouched by their mate’s bond. I thought I had it under control.

I was wrong.

The throbbing between my thighs came without warning, deep and desperate. I dropped to my knees again, clutching my stomach as sweat began to drip down my back. 

My skin was on fire, my inner thighs tingling, slickness already gathering at my core like my body was begging for touch, for release. The scent blocker I got was fading fast. If I sweat too much, my scent would slip through. 

They would smell me. They would know.

"This isn’t good," I whispered, my chest rising too fast. Tears blurred my vision. I pushed off the floor and ran, ignoring the pain in my lip, the ache in my body. 

I couldn’t go back to my dorm. I needed somewhere quiet. Everyone was at the ball party. No one would notice. So I burst into an empty dorm room moving straight to the bathroom. “Oh gods,” I whimpered, grabbing my breasts. 

My nipples were hard and sensitive, every brush of fabric against them sent jolts straight to my core. I rubbed them slowly, hoping the sharpness would ease the ache that kept tightening below. 

But it didn’t. Without thinking, I shoved my hand inside my trousers. I was so wet already and the moment I touched my core, my hips bucked. 

A sharp moan escaped me.

It felt too good.

Warmth pooled in my lower belly, my muscles tensed, and my fingers moved in circles, faster and deeper. My body trembled as I chased the edge, my other hand pressed against the wall for balance.

“Fuck, that feels so good,” I moaned, almost crying from the tension that wouldn’t break. My thighs clenched. I didn’t even know what I needed—I just needed more. Needed something inside me, anything to make this ache go away.

Then footsteps.

“No no no—” The door swung open before I could lock it. Vance stepped in, his eyes narrowing.

“What the hell are you doing here, Devan?” His gaze dropped. “And what the fuck was that sound?” he said, voice low, unreadable—then he stepped forward, and his nostrils flared.

He stepped closer.

Too close.

“You smell… different.”